Senegalese families mourn sons lost in deadly migrant boat disaster

Grieving families in northeastern Senegal are struggling to come to terms with the loss of loved ones after a migrant boat capsized off the country's coast. Killing dozens of people in one of the deadliest such tragedies in recent years. The bodies of 39 people were recovered from the beach near Lompul after the overcrowded pirogue capsized on Friday, leaving families across the region waiting for the news and confronting the consequences of the disaster. I heard the news like everyone else. I heard that a pirogue had capsized and it was only afterwards that I learned my son was on board. It took me a while, in fact, to believe he was among the victims because he never spoke about it. But children always have plans that we know nothing about. In the aftermath, relatives gathered to mourn those who had died. As the tragedy left, several households facing the sudden loss of family members who had helped support them financially. They were my only hope. They were the ones who found ways to help me cover our daily expenses. That is why, when I went several days without news of them, I wondered whether they might be on that pirogue I heard about. Because today all the young people have this idea in their heads. I went to check and that is how I learned they were among the victims. They were the pillars of this house. They were the ones who worked to provide for the whole family. For the families left behind, however, the loss extends far beyond the victims themselves, raising fears about the future of those who may still be tempted to embark on the same perilous journey. On the other hand, I'm afraid because if this situation we are living in continues, I will still try to hold them back and stop them from following in their brother's footsteps, that is, from setting off on the clandestine migration. I will never stop trying to dissuade them. But if I could find, starting tomorrow, a legal way for them to go and work abroad, for example, by getting a work visa, I wouldn't hesitate for us too many families in Senegal. Migration is not only a personal decision. But also response to economic hardship and the hope of providing a better future for relatives at home.